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The fact that the Florida Keys are rich with the kind of shallow-water coral reefs suitable for snorkeling should come as no surprise, as so many of the islands are made out of fossilized coral. The Florida Keys also have shipwrecks in shallow waters, so making the most of snorkeling in the Florida Keys is just a matter of working your way down the island chain and mixing snorkeling boat tours with some relaxing time on the beach.

Items you will need

Snorkel mask

Snorkel

Fins

Step 1

Visit John Pennekamp State Park on Key Largo, the easternmost of the Florida Keys. The park has snorkel boat tours (offered through a contractor) of the outlying coral reefs, and a snorkeling kit is included in these tours. However, with your own snorkeling kit you may also snorkel the sea grass beds in the park's lagoons and a Spanish shipwreck only 100 feet from the shore.

Step 2

Book a place on a snorkel boat tour in Key Largo that visits both Molasses Reef and the Key Largo Dry Rocks Reef. The latter is home to a bronze statue of Jesus Christ in only 25 feet of water, Statue of Christ of the Abyss, while Molasses Reef is as shallow as 15 feet in places, richly decorated with elkhorn and boulder corals, and home to sea turtles, moray eels and docile nurse sharks.

Step 3

Drive down to Islamorada Island and join a snorkel boat tour or a dive boat heading to Alligator Reef. The site is marked by a lighthouse, and while all that remains of this 1822 shipwreck are two piles of ballast stones, the surrounding coral garden is a colorful delight in 25 feet of water.

Step 4

Travel to Marathon Key for a snorkel boat or dive boat visit to the Adelaide Baker, a shipwreck in 25 feet of water with a pair of striking and identifiable smokestacks.

Step 5

Move on to Pine Key and book a place on dive or snorkel boat trip to Looe Key Reef. This is the shallow shipwreck of HMS Looe, which sank in 1744. Only the ballast stones and anchor chain of the ship remain today, but the area also has a patch reef with soft corals, sponges and plenty of sea life.

Step 6

Join a snorkel boat tour of Sand Key, an island off Key West with 10 miles of fringing coral reef. With such a long stretch of shallow coral, you and the other snorkelers on your boat will very likely have a patch of your own colorful corals and lively sea life entirely to yourselves.

Tip

Dive boats visit many of the same sites as snorkel boat tours, and routinely accept snorkelers at a discount of the rate charged to divers. If a snorkel boat tour is not visiting the site you wish to see that day, inquire with the scuba diving operators next.